Fodor's Expert Review Casa Roviralta–El Frare Blanc

Gaudí disciple Joan Rubió i Bellver, creator of the Gran Via's Casa Golferichs, won the Barcelona architecture prize of 1913 with this extravagant interplay of decorative brick and white surfaces. The house is traditionally known as El Frare Blanc (The White Monk) for the masía (Catalan country house) that previously occupied the spot and served as home to a community of Dominican monks who wore white habits. Floodlit at night, the building resembles nothing so much as a fairy-tale Andalusian castle. It is not simply a sight to behold: It is also a restaurant, the Asador de Aranda—the venue in Barcelona for oven-roasted milk-fed baby lamb. It was built at the behest of Theodor Roviralta, who made his fortune in the Spanish colonies.